Author Archive: Brett Owens

Some are fast. Some are slow.
Some are high. Some are low.
None of them is like another.
Don’t ask us why, go ask your mother.

– Dr. Seuss

Here at Contrarian Outlook, we prefer slow—as in slow-moving share prices. And high—as in high yields.

As to why, well, I need to address why other (less sophisticated) investing websites have bad information regarding a very good fund. So bad, in fact, that vanilla investors are scared to buy this perfectly safe 8.4% dividend!

Before I send you to ask your mother, I’ll explain why our website is right and other websites are wrong.… Read more

As folks who are always on the hunt for high-yield investments, we love 8%+ paying closed-end funds (CEFs).

CEFs, of course, are renowned for those high payouts—and the vast majority pay monthly. No “regular” stocks offer such a potent payout combo.

Best part is, many CEFs are on sale now: Of the 422 tracked by the CEF Connect screener, 372 currently trade at discounts to net asset value (NAV, or the value of their underlying assets).

That’s a great place to start our search for top-notch CEFs because a discount to NAV is basically free money: it lets us pick up, say, red-hot tech stocks like Texas Instruments (TXN), Amazon.com… Read more

Vanilla investors are freaking out that Jerome Powell & Co. won’t cut rates right away.

Who cares if we’re buying safe yields up to 11.0% like the three we’re about to highlight. This trio is positioned to benefit from an upcoming bull run in utility stocks:

“To be sure, long rates might hover around these levels for a bit. But the Fed’s rate hikes will eventually add up, and the much-talked-about recession will arrive. That will result in lower interest rates, both on the ‘short’ end (controlled by the Fed) and the ‘long’ (determined by the 10-year Treasury rate). As rates fall, the prices of bonds and ‘bond proxies,’ like utilities, will pop.”

I wish I didn’t have to write this column ever, let alone every couple of years. But this is ground we have to cover, like it or not: dividend stocks during war.

We invest in dividend stocks. There are wars and conflicts that affect our money. That’s reality.

Let’s start with last Saturday, while my daughter was in the middle of their monthly Girl Scouts meeting. I gulped at the headline on my phone: Drones heading towards Israel. Ugh.

So, on the drive to pick up my daughter, I flipped on the news in the Dadmobile. My sweety jumped into the car.… Read more

I’m this close to sending out a buy call on a stock that—if I do—I know would light up the phone lines (and customer-service inbox!) at our New York office.

There’s a good reason why: Imagine being along for this drop.

New “Watch-List” Addition Sheds Two-Thirds of Its Value

(Heck, given that this stock was till recently a staple of many dividend portfolios, maybe you don’t have to imagine.)

That’s the peak-to-trough dive on 3M Co. (MMM) in the last six years. To put it in perspective, it came as the broader S&P 500 gained 79%.

I know that buying—or even considering—a stock with a chart like this gives many folks heart palpitations.… Read more

As contrarians, we search for income stocks that vanilla investors hate. Today there are not many dividend deals left. No surprise, with the market levitating since last October.

But! When we expand our search to CEFland, we do find a few closed-end funds (CEFs) left at the bottom of the bargain bin. Today we’ll discuss five that pay between 5.7% and 11.7% and trade at discounts between 12% and 18%.

In other words, these five CEFs trade for 82 to 88 cents on the dollar. Let’s explore whether each dividend is “cheap for a reason.”

General American Investors (GAM)
Distribution Rate: 5.7%
Discount to NAV: 18.4%

General American Investors (GAM) is a straightforward large-cap CEF that holds “companies with above-average growth potential.”… Read more

Not sure about buying and holding stocks right now?

Me neither. The market is pricey. Meanwhile, the potential downside looks dicey. Mr. and Ms. Market seem fixated on rate cuts this year from the Federal Reserve. If we don’t get them, look out!

We may not see rate cuts in 2024 if inflation continues. And right now, crude oil prices are popping. Consumer prices are unlikely to cool while oil is high.

But, on the other hand, the Fed is engaging in quiet QE. Gold has sniffed it out and rallied. Bitcoin, too, is going bonkers.

Cash is destined for the trash bin if the market continues to defy gravity and levitate higher.… Read more

We’ve got a great shot at locking in big yields—and big dividend growth—on utility stocks. But we need to buy now, before rates start their (inevitable) decline.

I’ve got three “growth utilities”—boasting fast-growing businesses and dividends—for us to play this opportunity with below.

Best part is, thanks to their healthy balance sheets, these three have a built-in “buffer” if rate cuts do get held up for a bit.

Last October’s Rate Peak Was Just Act 1

I know this plan works because, well, it’s exactly what happened last fall, when fear was everywhere and the 10-year yield scraped up against the 5% barrier.… Read more

Let’s talk about five dividends that are set to soar when the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates.

Not that these stocks need help. They are already in multi-year bull runs because they have the power of the “dividend magnet” on their side. This is a situation where dividend growth pulls a stock’s price higher and higher.

Let’s take coffee giant Starbucks (SBUX) as an example. Starbucks has beaten the S&P 500 by more than 300 percentage points since 2010. That’s also the year in which SBUX started paying dividends.

But it’s not just that Starbucks has clobbered the broader market. It’s the way in which the stock price and dividends have largely moved in tandem, with one seemingly pulling the other higher over time.… Read more

Riddle me this, my fellow contrarian.

If the Federal Reserve is really tightening its balance sheet, then why is the stock market already up 10% on the year?

Why is gold at all-time highs?

And why is bitcoin going completely bonkers?

The answer is “quiet QE.”

As we discussed last summer in this column, Fed Chair Jay Powell’s words have sounded hawkish. He and his cronies talked tough about inflation. But look at their actions: the Fed has quietly provided ample liquidity to the financial markets.

Which is why dollar hedges like gold and bitcoin have soared.… Read more